


Teeth and Hunger

by GlyphArchive



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Gen, It's not lying if someone never asks, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28581798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlyphArchive/pseuds/GlyphArchive
Summary: Ritsuka hates doctor visits. But sometimes they aren't as bad as she dreads.
Relationships: Asclepius | Caster & Fujimaru Ritsuka
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Teeth and Hunger

Ritsuka isn't sleeping. She doesn't remember the last time she had been able to close her eyes and really shut down without silently waiting for the next alarm to go off. For someone to scream. For her servants to demand her orders so that they can fight fight fight _fight_ -

That's probably why Asclepius had asked to see her now, when the biggest worry on the horizon was what new fresh summer experience awaited them: if it would be BB's island or someplace new and exciting _(terrifying)-_

_what if her orders weren't enough? what if she misread the situation and her servants had to pay the price? she only had so much to give and her hands would not stop shaking if she didn't curl them into fists and her eyes prickled in any light even if she couldn't cry_

"So?" Ritsuka asked half cheerfully, drawing her sleeves further down her arms to cover the marred flesh underneath. "Will you be able to fix them, you think? I know it's a lot, but if I can look a little prettier... a little more normal, I think it might help the director relax."

She had faith in him. She did. But it wouldn't be surprising if the god of medicine couldn't do anything to fix the damage already done to her body either.

You could only patch something up so many times before it was no good, after all. She's been running on borrowed graces for so long she barely remembered what it was like to wake up without the buzz of danger in the forefront of her mind the moment she opened her eyes.

Asclepius doesn't shy away from her scars, though. And he doesn't put her on a pedestal either. When he looks at her _(she doesn't know what he sees)_ he's only calm. No watery eyes or apologies for being too late.

_(If he sees just another patient that's okay too. She can be happy with that. She won't be able to disappoint him that way, if it's just the give and receive of doctor and patient. She'll only tell him the truth when it really matters, when she can't smile and pretend she isn't somehow burning, that she hasn't been able to properly follow a conversation for a long time without help)_

_(Meaning, she will never tell him and he will hopefully never ever ask)_

"There is nothing wrong with scars in and of themselves." Asclepius says, pulling back his sleeves to continue the exam. 

His hands are cool and dry, but Ritsuka bites back the impulse to pull away and let's him keep prodding at her ruined _(to her)_ body. 

He is the only one who touches her so freely. The only one who touches her at all. It's both electrifying and unsettling to feel the gentle glide of his skin over hers, slow and patient like the cute serpent that nests in his robes.

A gap in his collar reveals itself as Asclepius leans towards her, checking an old spot where someone's noble phantasm had broken through her mystic code to pierce flesh and bone underneath. Ritsuka's mouth waters at the glimpse of his neck, the faintest blue line curving down and carrying his pulse where she can't see.

Her teeth ache in her mouth. She wants to bite that spot and see if Asclepius is as soft as he appears. Or if he'll break her teeth like marble. If he'll accept her attempt at connection and affection even with blood trickling out from her mouth.

_(She hadn't thought Aphrodite would accept her love, even if she had been goddess of it to begin with. All Ritsuka could offer was her own body and broken, bleeding hopes inside. Part of her doubts Asclepius would be interested either, even if he was caring enough to help her stuff the offal back inside where it belonged)_

"You've survived, there is nothing to be ashamed of in that." He's still so patient, rearranging her limbs with the same care Avicebron showed his golems as she breathed in slowly and reminds herself that this isn't a fight. That she doesn't have to dig and tear into his frame with her nails and teeth just to live.

"You're healing." Asclepius hums, pleased, and the barely-there aura of _something_ twists around them like a living thing as he finally let's her go.

She wants to touch that pale curl of mana and authority around him, feel it crackle against her skin. Would it hurt him? It never seemed to when someone unknowingly came into contact with it on the field.

Would it burn, or would it be cold? He was supposed to be a very old deity, wasn't he?

"Thank you." She remembers to speak only too late, smiling at him with her best attempt at normalcy. It feels brittle, like her, like the snakeskin of his robes when she's had to pry him bleeding and coughing from the field.

_(she is so very tired of watching another choke on their own breath for her, die for her, smiling at her as they are fading away)_

Asclepius's fingers curl around her cheek and pinch just so. Ritsuka groans obligingly, pretending that it hurts.

"You don't have to do that." Asclepius's lips part and she sees the ends of his teeth are sharp. Fangs really, enough that it makes her pulse quicken in anticipation. 

"Don't pretend," he says, pinning her in place with those bright keen eyes. "It will be a long road to recovery, but you won't be walking it alone. Now breathe a little, you fool, before you pass out."

She would, if it meant he would lean close and sink his teeth into her like a part of her wants him to. If he kept talking like that, less like she was a broken thing in need of pity and a real person allowed to make mistakes.

Ritsuka unclenches her hands and inhales, smells lavender and sweet grass and thinks, for once, she might not have to fight so hard this time.


End file.
